The dividend is payable on Sept. 2 to shareholders of record on Aug. 11, Penske said today.

Penske has boosted its quarterly cash dividend regularly since May 2011, when it reinstated payouts -- at 7 cents a share -- following the auto industry's sales collapse.

“The increase in the dividend reflects our commitment to increasing returns for shareholders and reinforces the continued confidence we have in the strength of the auto retail market and our ability to continue growing our overall business,” Penske President Robert Kurnick Jr. said in a statement.

Separately, the company named a new member to its board of directors. Kanji Sasaki, former general manager of Mitsui & Co.’s First Motor Vehicles Division, Second Business Department, will fill the seat left by the resignation of Yoshimi Namba, who is returning to Mitsui.

Mitsui, a Japanese trading house, owns 17.2 percent of Penske Automotive, making it the company’s second-largest shareholder.

Penske is No. 2 on the Automotive News list of the top 125 dealership groups in the United States with retail sales of 199,795 new units in 2013.